Nigella Lawson’s fear-free fish stew is ‘spectacularly’ good – and sauce keeps for three months

A hearty, warming stew is the perfect dish for a cold winter’s evening and Nigella Lawson has shared just the recipe for it.

This one involves fish and the TV chef is all too aware that many people are wary about cooking this type of meat. “I do understand why, but this, my friends, is the recipe to allay your anxieties and free you from fear,” she says.

Nigella goes on to joke that your “fissues” will be a thing of the past after cooking the dish as the fish is only cooked “very briefly” in the pan, yet it will still remain succulent and tender off the heat. She goes on: “I very often make the sauce up ahead of time — it should be fine in the fridge for up to five days, and in the freezer for up to three months — which means all you need do is heat up the sauce (and I add 60ml/ quarter cup of water on reheating) and add the fish at the last minute, which can be very useful when you have people over.”

The sauce should take less than an hour to make, according to Nigella, and can be frozen for up to three months in an airtight container. However she warns: “Freezing stew with fish is not recommended.”

She goes on: “Serve spectacularly with plain black Venus rice if you can get it, but any rice of your choice would of course do.” Likewise, any “fairly meaty fish” can be used along with a “few prawns” to chuck in. If you want to make a vegetarian version of the dish then simply swap the fish and, “add chunks of parsnip and aubergine along with the sweet potatoes (though cut bigger than them) and throw in some drained chick peas at the end.”

The recipe was posted on her site as well as on X, with many of her followers left satisfied. One wrote: “Great recipe for Fridays during Advent,” while another added: “Stews here are bland cream and offwhite beigey versions with none of the curry colours generally associated with curries with chunky veggies/ nonveg cooked in butter with whole spices bayleaf , cardamom , cinnamon ,peppercorns, ginger…This stew looks savoury and vibrant..”

Ingredients
¼ teaspoon ground mace
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon hot smoked paprika
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large sweet potato (approximately 250g/1¾ cups, diced)
A small bunch of fresh coriander (approximately 25g/1 cup leaves)
Approximately 20g fresh ginger
2 fat cloves of garlic
1 onion (approximately 175g/1⅓ cups, chopped)
2 x 15ml tablespoons olive oil
1 orange
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
1 x 15ml tablespoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon Maldon sea salt flakes (or ½ teaspoon fine sea salt)
1 teaspoon runny honey (or maple syrup)
750g skinless boneless haddock or other firm white fish (in 1 thick piece or thick-cut fillets)
How to cook the fish stew
Firstly, measure all of the spices into a little bowl and then peel the sweet potato and cut into 1 cm /½ inch dice and leave to one side. Finely chop the tender stalks from the bunch of coriander to give yourself three tablespoonsful.

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Peel and finely grate the ginger, to give you one teaspoonful, and peel the garlic. Peel and roughly chop the onion then fill a measuring jug with 400ml/1⅔ cups cold water.

Warm the oil in a heavy-based pan or casserole that comes with a lid (Nigella uses one of 22cm/9 inches diameter). Add the onion and cook it gently for about 20 minutes until it’s beginning to soften and colour.

Finely grate in the orange zest, mince or grate in the garlic, add the chopped coriander stalks and the grated ginger. Stir everything over gentle heat then add the spices.

Tip in the diced sweet potato and stir into the spiced onion over medium heat for a minute or so. Add the tinned tomatoes and half fill the empty cans with your water and swill out into the pan.

Spoon in the tomato purée and add the salt and runny honey or maple syrup. Halve your zested orange and sqeeze out enough juice to give you a tablespoon and add that too, giving everything a good stir.

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